There are many types of high-water protective devices, which can be roughly classified according to whether they lean on existing buildings or form a wall in the terrain. In these walls there are forms of execution with solid supports in the nature of cutoff walls and fixed frames, and there are forms of execution with support elements foldable together. The invention has to do with the latter form of execution.
A protective barrier according to the kind referred to above is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,177, in which the support is constructed from three struts which are joined articulately with one another at one end while each of their other ends they are hinged to a respective support pad. The support pads fit into pockets of a ground seal-off arrangement. The stowage wall surface is formed by double-layered struts, over which a tarpaulin is drawn. The struts form a concave curvature on the stowage wall surface and can stand very close together in order to keep the sagging of the tarpaulin slight. Over the tarpaulin there can be suspended plates of woven polymeric material overlapping in scale form, possibly for purposes of reinforcement. As height of the barrier there is specified 8 feet=2.4 m and as stowage height 7.5 feet=2.28 m. What is disadvantageous in the known protective barrier is the relatively great storage space for the folded-together parts, because very many supports are used, which stand relatively close together, in order to support the sheet.
In a further known stowage wall (DE 28 42 353) there is provided a series of triangular supporting devices which directly support a tarpaulin. The tarpaulin extends also in front of the foot of the stowage wall and has there a shorter length for the avoidance of folds, while the tarpaulin forms domed folds between the supports, in order to absorb the water pressure. The spacings between the supports are small and, accordingly, the number of supports is great, for which reason a relatively large stacking space is required. The supports, moreover are not described as foldable together.
In a further known protective wall (DE-U 88 08 124) there is presumed a U-shaped gutter to be lowered in the ground, into which large plates are installable, which are supported in each case over obliquely running supports on the ground. These supports can be swung into the plane of the plates, in order to reduce the storage volume of the protective wall. Nevertheless, a relatively large storage volume is required.
In a further known support barrier (commercial announcement in ENR/Nov. 13, 1995) conversely Y-shaped steel carrier frames are provided, over which a textile membrane is laid which continues also over the ground. As stowage height there is mentioned 9 feet=2.7 m.